Sorr
oldspice could you please explain to me in simple terms the difference between a metaphore and an analogy.
Sorry Lou, I missed that request.
A metaphor is something that that symbolically represents something else. It doesn't literally respresent what is being described. For example, "It's raining cats and dogs" or "She's the apple of his eye" are metaphorical descritions. This type of language is sometimes called idiomatic.
An analogy has a number of interpretations but in language, in simple terms, it is a thing (a story or anecdote for example) that has something in common with another thing that is otherwise not similar. For example, in the film Independence Day there were definite echoes of War of the Worlds so one could say there was an analogy between them.
I hope that helps. Could anyone else add anything? Smurfy??